VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Spirit of Ani is a captivating journey of intimate reflections with Ani DiFranco, a pathbreaking, highly original artist of our time. In this powerful collaborative work, the legendary folk-rock star and feminist icon is in conversation with author, artist, and cultural anthropologist Lauren Coyle Rosen.

In these exchanges, Ani is remarkably open about her creativity, spirituality, personal experiences, and evolving consciousness. She is vulnerable and unapologetic, offering an unprecedented window into her fiercely prolific journeys.

Expanding on themes from her best-selling memoir, Ani also offers fascinating reflections on contemporary popular culture—ranging from gender and queer politics, to the music industry in the virtual age, to climate change. The book includes previously unpublished photographs and journal entries, song-birth sheets, paintings, and the lyrics for some of her most treasured songs.

The coauthors explore how Ani’s music and art are profoundly tied to her experiences of the interconnectedness of all consciousness and tuning in to receive creative inspiration. Ani’s striking openness produces a book that is both meditative and activating. This is a must-read for anyone intrigued by the dedication, intuition, and vision that drive Ani’s lifelong journey of creating art that not only reflects, but also empowers, transforms, and heals.

Three recent releases, two reissues, and one soundtrack album spotlight guitar gods who, in varying degrees, fuse rock, jazz, and blues to create their own unique musical vision.

John McLaughlin remains one of the most innovative and relevant guitarists to first emerge in the 1960s. In fact, his guitar prowess, insatiable search for new sounds, and penchant for playing music that seems light-years ahead of his peers may have been matched only by Jeff Beck in the 21st century. Like many British guitarists, he began in the London blues scene. Unlike his contemporaries, however, he detoured away from the rock god road and pursued a jazz journey.

His work with Miles Davis, his solo albums, and his formation of both the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which defined the jazz-fusion movement, and Shakti, which, while crossing jazz and Indian music, were forerunners of world music, are peerless. Now, McLaughlin tackles another musical realm with startling results. His latest release, Music for Abandoned Heights, is the soundtrack album for a movie that never happened.

As a standalone album, it’s a rare gem. Influenced by the Miles Davis soundtrack for the 1958 Louis Malle film Elevator to the Gallows, Abandoned Heights began in 2019 and, unlike the Paris-set Malle film, was set in New York. McLaughlin began working on the score, which was eventually recorded in London, after reading the script, even before he saw any film footage.

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Celebrating John Steel on his 85th birthday. —Ed.

In addition to The Beatles and Stones, the British Invasion produced numerous other noteworthy groups, and one of the most successful was The Animals. A serious-minded bunch led by that brawny-throated student of American blues and early rock ‘n’ roll Eric Burdon, they persist in the modern memory mainly for their hit singles. But on the subject of albums, they also had a few very good ones, though differing US and UK editions have frustrated collectors on both sides of the Atlantic for years. Of the two versions of their 1964 debut The Animals, the Brit issue may not be the best, but it does give a deep glimpse into what this no-nonsense, solidly rocking band was initially all about.

Eric Burdon seems like the kind of cat who’d rather keel over dead than quit singing. Nearly fifty years after his first album came out he’s still out there doing it on stages, and like the R&B legends that provided him with his formative inspiration, his continued activity comes without a whole lot of pomp and circumstance. Because he played an enjoyably quirky role in the landslide of ‘60s psychedelic rock by fronting a later incarnation of The Animals and proceeded from that to get his fingers nice and funky on a pair of albums in collaboration with the California groove merchants War, Burdon’s profile has easily transcended the outfit that began in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1962, when he joined up with a group then called The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo.

In addition to Burdon and organist/keyboardist Price, the other members were Hilton Valentine on guitar, John Steel on drums, and Bryan “Chas” Chandler on bass. Rechristened as The Animals and following the advice of Yardbirds’ manager Giorgio Gomelsky, who obviously saw something in the band’s early stage act that was comparable to the act under his supervision, they moved to London and quickly hit the big time.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino honors the legendary late bandleader and pianist Eddie Palmieri with a reissue of his 1971 masterpiece, Vámonos pa’l monte. A landmark title in both the Latin jazz and salsa canons, the album features such timeless tracks as “Revolt/La libertad logico,” “Comparsa de los locos,” and “Vámonos pa’l monte,” and boasts an all-star line-up, including Charlie Palmieri, Nicky Marrero, Ronnie Cuber, and Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros.

Long-out-of-print, Vámonos pa’l monte returns to its original format on March 20th, with pre-orders live now and featuring all-analog (AAA) mastering from the original tapes. The album is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a replica of its original Tico Records jacket. Palmieri fans can also find a limited-edition “Barro & Humo” (Clay & Smoke) color pressing (only 300 copies), as a stand-alone or bundled with a collectible Tico Records T-shirt, exclusively via Fania.com. Fans can also enjoy the remastered album in both standard and HD digital audio available now on digital music platforms.

Multiple GRAMMY® Award–winning bandleader, composer, arranger and pianist Eddie Palmieri (1936–2025) was a larger-than-life musical figure. Known for his percussive, highly physical piano technique and his innovative blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz, Palmieri was a pivotal force in shaping the sound of Latin music.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Beck is sending us all a very special Valentine’s Day gift in the form of Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime, a beautifully crafted eight-song mini-album collecting some of his most beloved standalone singles and soundtrack contributions, eclectic cover versions and a couple of exclusive previously unreleased recordings.

Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime is of course named for Beck’s version of the Korgis’ dusty gem that first stole hearts on the soundtrack to 2004’s The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and has since remained a frequent fixture of Beck’s live shows, especially his orchestral performances of the last few years. Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love’”and The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes for You” receive faithful and reverent renditions, as do tributes to John Lennon (“Love”) and Caetano Veloso (“Michelangelo Antonioni”).

The beguiling “Ramona,” from the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World soundtrack, is the sole Beck original here, while never-before-recorded versions of two of Beck’s signature reinterpretations—Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You in the End”—round out this formidable Valentine’s Day mixtape.

Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime is available now across DSPs, and will see its physical release on February 13th on opaque red vinyl, which can now be pre-ordered HERE.

Celebrating Lol Tolhurst on his 67th birthday. —Ed.

How close-minded am I? I’ll tell you. When my girlfriend asked me about The Cure I told her I wasn’t really familiar with much more than their megahits. When she went on to suggest I’d like them, I told her, “Sure, about as much as I’d like to have railroad spikes driven into my eyes.”

But love is blind—having railroad spikes driven into your eyes will do that—so I agreed solely on her behalf to give the legendarily mopey Robert Smith, who has always struck me as Morrissey minus the saving sense of ironic wit—and Company a listen. And gosh darn it if I didn’t find I liked them. They weren’t the unremitting bummer I expected, which I should have known from having heard the great “Just Like Heaven” and “Friday I’m in Love.”

Sure, Smith can be a downer. But the Cure weren’t just jauntier than I anticipated; they were also tougher. The introspective Smith may be the least likely pugilist this side of Brian Eno, but his braggadocio on “Fight,” the closing cut of 1987’s double LP Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, proves he knows his way around a pair of brass knuckles. The same goes for the king snake of a tune that is “The Snake Pit,” a savage and ponderous drone of a tune that will slither right off the stereo and bite you, as well as for the guitar-heavy opening cut “The Kiss,” on which Smith spits bile and vitriol, mostly to the effect of “I wish you were dead.” Which rhymes wonderfully with “Get your fucking voice out of my head.”

As I mentioned, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me is a double LP, and like most double albums contains its share of filler. Like the “funky” “Hot Hot Hot!!!,” which one critic cryptically labeled “a tragedy of trenchfoot” before concluding that even he knew Smith has “better stuff hidden in that mop of his.” Meanwhile, the vaguely Indian-tinged “Like Cockatoos” is a bore, while the exotic drums and sax of “Icing Sugar” promise much but fail to deliver. As for “Torture” it’s aptly named, and not even its big drug thump and all Smith’s warbling and wailing can hide its lack of a catchy melody.

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Having spun off from the veteran Los Angelino punk outfit The Bronx, the rich and vibrant Mexican roots experience Mariachi El Bronx returns after a decade-long recording hiatus with IV, a 12-song set that rekindles the unbridled spirit essence of their previous work. It’s available February 13 on vinyl, compact disc, and digital through ATO Records.

The name Mariachi El Bronx solidifies the connection between the Cali punk rock of The Bronx, who sprang onto the scene by releasing the first of six eponymous albums in 2003, with the musical style outlined in the offshoot’s moniker. This connection doesn’t signify a genre hybridization but rather highlights that punk and mariachi share a like-minded sensibility.

Of course, punks have been branching out for decades, sometimes via hybrids (or through what can be described as form destruction) and in other examples by embodying the true, unvarnished nature of a style, even if it risks (and often deliberately strives for) the alternatingly fascinating and perplexing impression of anachronism.

Mariachi El Bronx is vocalist Matt Caughthran, guitarist and accordionist Joby J. Ford, drummer Jared Shavelson, trumpeters Keith Douglas and Brad Magers, violinist Ray Suen, jarana player Ken Horne, and guitarrón player Vincent Hidalgo. What they achieve on IV extends from their prior efforts, retaining the heft and spark of the mariachi style without registering as a throwback.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Sixty years after Miles Davis and his Second Great Quintet detonated expectations across seven sets in a basement club in Chicago, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 is out now as a definitive physical edition—available now via Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment.

Widely hailed as one of the most illuminating live documents in jazz history, the complete Plugged Nickel performances capture Davis alongside Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams at a moment when the band’s language was mutating in real time—elastic, volatile, and eerily telepathic.

Originally issued in 1995 as a limited-edition Mosaic Records LP box set and out of print for nearly three decades, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 is now available as a 10LP box set and 8CD box set, cut from digital and presented in deluxe packaging.

The 10LP edition recreates the Mosaic musical presentation while expanding the story for a new era: a newly designed slipcase houses ten individual LP jackets and a 40-page booklet featuring new liner notes by Syd Schwartz and classic contextual writing by Bob Blumenthal, alongside archival photography and production credits that underscore the set’s stature as a cornerstone in Davis’ recorded legacy.

The performances themselves are a study in controlled risk. In December 1965, the quintet arrived at the Plugged Nickel with a well-worn repertoire—standards, ballads, blues—and proceeded to turn it inside out. Across “My Funny Valentine,” “Stella By Starlight,” “Walkin’,” “So What,” “All Blues,” and more, the group bends tempo, fractures form, and reassigns roles mid-phrase, making even familiar material feel newly dangerous.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Before “Dreams” signaled the emergence of one of the most arresting and angelic voices enwrapped in a swath of layered dreampop… Before “Linger” entranced audiences even further into their otherworldly and dreamy melodies… Before “Zombie” cemented them as one of the premier alt-rock bands globally… Before their albums were certified multiplatinum and their videos ticking up hundreds of millions of views (“Zombie” has racked up 1.7B alone), Irish alt-rock band The Cranberries released “Uncertain” in October 1991.

Island / Ume is excited to announce the reissue of this special snapshot of the band on the verge of worldwide breakthrough via this limited edition, numbered, and lightly remastered reissue of “Uncertain.” Pressed on cranberry-colored vinyl, the 45-RPM 12” captures the youthful excitement of that special moment in time immediately before the spotlight on the band got infinitely brighter (their debut album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? would be released two years later in 1993).

Originally released in very limited quantities (estimates project just 5,000 copies were made), the extremely rare four-song EP is a premonition of sorts, hinting at the hidden powerhouse vocals of the late Dolores O’Riordan that was perfectly complemented by drummer Fergal Lawler, bassist Mike Hogan, and guitarist Noel Hogan.

“Whoa! Listening to these songs is like taking a trip through a Time Machine,” says Fergal. “We were so young when we recorded this EP. You can really hear it in Dolores’s voice. She was just 19 years old then.”

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Celebrating Ross Valory on his 77th birthday. —Ed.

Some random thoughts on Journey’s 1981 blockbuster LP Escape:

1. Remember that final, 2007 episode of The Sopranos with the open ending that everybody hated, the one where Tony and family are sitting in the diner and you don’t know whether Tony gets whacked or not? Well, what pissed me off was not knowing whether Tony lived or died. What bugged me was that the booth jukebox was playing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and Tony’s kid, a teen from the year 2007 who had never shown any symptoms of being a congenital idiot, never said “What is this shit?” Any normal rebellious teen male from the year 2007 would have said “What is this shit?” but Tony’s kid didn’t SAY shit. Ruined the entire episode for me.

2. I don’t think Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” is shit. I USED to think it was shit, thought it was shit for decades, but then something horrible happened, I had a brain aneurysm or something, and now I love it. I love it! This has happened to me with other bands and other songs and maybe it’s a function of growing old and senile but believe me, it’s disturbing. I’ve always considered myself a person of taste, although I’ve also always liked Black Oak Arkansas and Foghat while despising the likes of Patti Smith and The Clash, so that’s debatable. But Journey? Journey is no grey area. When a person tells me they like Journey I give that person the stink eye and write that person out of the Book of Life. Journey is the enemy.

3. On a completely random note, Escape’s cover falls into the great Boston/Electric Light Orchestra tradition of album covers with spaceships on them escaping Earth because who doesn’t want to escape Earth, especially if you’re a teen and your parents are hard-ons and school may as well be Leavenworth and what’s the point of growing up anyway? To get a job? To go bald and get married and STOP smoking pot? Life HAS to be better in another galaxy!

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